Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO) confirmed for the first time that it is planning a magazine for older Boomer women, but said the launch is on hold due to the slow economy. No timeline for launching the new magazine has been announced. The news surfaced in Women’s Wear Daily, which reports that the magazine’s working title is “M.” Earlier reports on this can be found here.
What kind of work will baby boomers choose to do when they leave their primary careers behind? The MetLife Foundation/Civic Ventures Encore Career Survey released today suggests a surprising number will opt for work that makes a meaningful contribution to society. The survey found that “a surprisingly large number of people between the ages of 44 and 70 are already doing work that combines income and personal meaning with social impact. These individuals—5.3 to 8.4 million of them—have moved from the end of midlife careers not to leisure-based retirements, but to new stage of work for the greater good, a stage of work that Civic Ventures has come to call the “encore career.”
The survey also pointed to the possibility that the number of people choosing encore careers could grow rapidly. Of those between 44 and 70 not already in encore careers, half say they are interested in moving into jobs in such fields as education, health care, government, and the nonprofit sector.
Why is the interest so strong? According to the report:
Several mutually reinforcing interests are leading boomers toward encore careers. Survey findings show that the primary motivations include a desire to stay active, productive, challenged and learning. More than a third of those in encore careers and those interested in them cite practical needs for continuing income and health benefits. A majority are looking for “flexibility in the work that they do.
Beyond these general interests, choosing work for the common good re”ects the desire of those in encore careers and those interested in them in !nding work that provides both meaning and accomplishment. More than half (54%) of those in encore careers and two-thirds (64%) of those interested say it is very important to them to use their skills and experience to help others.
Civic Ventures points to several moves employers and policy makers could take to further stimulate encore career development. These include providing access to affordable healthcare in the “Medigap” years leading up t age 65, ending financial penalties for continuing to work and providing education and training for new careers.
I spent last week with some of the nation’s top experts on retirement security at a fellowship program hosted by the National Press Foundation (NPF) and underwritten by Prudential. Our group of 17 journalists heard presentations on Social Security, pensions, health care, annuities, retirement housing and the federal budget deficit. All the sessions were on the record, and I plan to use a good deal of the material soon in Retire Smart columns. In the meantime, NPF has posted audio and Powerpoint presentations on its website. Each of the sessions runs about an hour, but if you’re interested in a five-star briefing on any of these issues, look no farther. Highlights:
Our Fiscal Future. Isabel Sawhill, Senior Fellow and co-director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution.
Change in the Air. John Rother, Group Executive Officer of Policy and Strategy for AARP.
What Americans Know About Retirement. Barbara Bovbjer, Director for Education, Workforce and Income Security Issues at the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Decumulation. Mary Beth Franklin, Senior editor of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine.
A former sales manager in the active adult housing industry has launched a website that helps prospective buyers research and compare age-restricted communities around the U.S. 55Places.com showcases more than 50 active retirement communities throughout 11 popular retirement states. The site includes community descriptions, pricing and association fees, photos and lists of about amenities and social clubs. The site claims to offer “objective independent reviews of all active adult communities,” including both new and “resale” developments. The founder is Bill Ness a former sales manager for Del Webb Corporation, the largest developer of active adult communities in the country.
Civic Ventures released a report last year highlighting the innovative work certain states are doing around the U.S. to tap into the growing number of Baby Boomers interested in second careers. Civic Ventures focuses on enabling careers in fields that make a positive contribution to society, such as teaching and health care. The report looks at efforts in Arizona, California, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York to help older workers find meaningful work and to volunteer their time. I had a chance to talk about Civic Ventures’ work in this area recently with Stefanie Weiss, the organization’s vice president for communications. Here’s an edited video of our conversation.
You can download a PDF of the Civic Ventures report on state innovation here.
Judging by its programming, I would have guessed PBS already had a pretty good bead on the 50+ audience; the network’s schedule is packed with Boomer and nostalgia rock music, travel, food and personal discovery shows. But the network seems ready to do more. PBS is launching a new “Public Television 50-Plus Initiative,” according to Paul Kleyman, who writes Age Beat Online, the Newsletter of the Journalists Exchange on Aging. Here’s an edited summary of Paul’s interesting missive on the initiative:
“This is not just an initiative that is a one-year activity we’ll then cycle off into something else; this really should be the basis for the scope of work we should take up for now and the future. So we really should get this as right as we can out of the box.” That was the message Paula Kerger, PBS President and CEO, had for a select group of about 50 leaders in aging and top executives from throughout public television about the system’s new Public Television 50-Plus Initiative.
Speaking at a “summit” held near PBS headquarters in suburban Washington, D.C., in late April, Kerger noted that the system hopes to have as dramatic an impact on raising the quality of programming for older viewers as PBS did on children’s programming. In the next decade, she said, PBS intends to extend its penetration into the same older audience that other entities in broadcasting have long disdained as a liability, those past the vaunted 18-49 age group. Although the 50-Plus Initiative proposal places most emphasis on the boomer generation, it also states that programming will be developed for more senior age groups.
The 50-Plus Initiative, Kerger said, is part of a wider effort to secure the future of PBS and its 355 affiliated stations, while the media world is changing in an “ever complicated, ever fractured manner.”
The 50-Plus Initiative is the brainchild of Jim Pagliarini, president and CEO of Twin Cities Public Television (TCPT), and Judy Diaz, managing director of brand strategy for PBS. With development funding from The Atlantic Philanthropies, they commissioned market research last year showing that “at any given second in primetime, 1.4 million people 50-plus are watching series such as NewsHour, Now and Nova,” according to a summary provided to attendees. At present, according to the PBS study, 89 million people, about 30% of the U.S. population, are 50 or older. Although the research determined that PBS programs already serve its more mature audience, “that content was not consistent or aligned in such a way to realize potentially powerful audience outcomes.”
I spent last week with some of the nation’s top experts on retirement security at a fellowship program hosted by the National Press Foundation (NPF) and underwritten by Prudential. Our group of 17 journalists heard presentations on Social Security, pensions, health care, annuities, retirement housing and the federal budget deficit. All the sessions were on the record, and I plan to use a good deal of the material soon in 
should be the basis for the scope of work we should take up for now and the future. So we really should get this as right as we can out of the box.” That was the message Paula Kerger, PBS President and CEO, had for a select group of about 50 leaders in aging and top executives from throughout public television about the system’s new Public Television 50-Plus Initiative.
